Rail-supporting structure



W. P. DAY.

RAIL SUPPORTING STRUCTURE.

I APPLICATION FILED 'JUL Y 30,1921- 2 SHEETS-SHEET l- W. P. DAY.

RAIL SUPPORTING STRUCTURE.

1,420,9 74w PPLICATlON EILED JULY 30,1921- '2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WILLIAM ?.-DAY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

nAm-snrron'rms s'rnuc'runn.

Application filed. July 30, 1921.

T 0 all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, ILLIAM P. DAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inRail-SupportingStructures, of which the following is a specification. V

This invention relates to structures for supporting rails, andparticularly to that type of structure wherein the rail is supportedupon a concrete bed and supported along its entire length.

It is a well known fact that while it is advisable that rails be given afirm support upon a continuous bed, yet the difficulty with suchcontinuous bed is that the rail does not have a suficient elastic orcushioning support and as a consequence chattering is liable to occur.Furthermore, the rail will not stand the stress and the pound ing towhich it is subjected as well as it would if a cushion or elasticsupport is provided for the rail. 7

The general object of my invention is to provide a structure whichsupports the rail practically along its entire length as distinguishedfrom supporting it at relatively wide intervals, but in which arelatively yieding support is provided for the rail, and morespecifically in which this support consists of a block or blocks of woodeX- tending beneath the rail and longitudinally thereof, and in whichthe rail is further yieldubly supported by a metallic plate disposedbetween the rails and the supporting blocks, the upper surface of whichplate is corrugated or formed with alternate crests and relativelyshallowvalleys so that the wave in the rail caused by the passage ofwheels thereover may be accommodated.

A further object is to provide a construc-' tion of this characterwherein the wood supporting blocks are entirely housed or encased andprotected from the weather so that they will remain effective for a.relatively long period and will not need frequent r newals, and furtherto so form the structure that these wooden blocks may be removed andreplaced whenever desired without the necessity of in any way tearing upor disassembling the track structure itself.

Another object in this connection is to provide a rail supportingstructure of the character described which may be embedded Specificationof Letters Patent. Patgnted June 27, 1922,

Serial No. 488,652.

inconcrete and which will yet yieldingly support the rails, and in whichthe rail supports are tied together so as to form what is known in theart as a twin tie structure. I

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the plate 20;

Figure 6 is a rear elevation of one of the fastening members 16.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seenthat I have illustrated askeletonic supporting structure wherein two parallel rail supports areprovided connected by transverse tiebars. Each rail supporting structurecomprises a longitudinally extending base plate 10 having a widthgreater than the widthof the base of the rail and in actual practicehaving a width of some 15" more or less.

Riveted, bolted or otherwise attached to this plate 10 are the twoparallel angle irons 11 and 12, 12 being the outermost angle irons,these angle irons being of any desired or practical length and beingriveted by rivets 13 or bolted to the plate 10, the outer edges of theangle irons coming flush with the outer edges of the plate 10. Thevertical flanges of the angleirons 11 and 12 are perforated at intervalsfor the passage of transverse bolts 141-. Disposed within the troughformed by the angle irons 11 and 12 and thebottom plate 10 is a woodenblock or wooden blocks.

I have illustrated the more or less elastic filler 15 as being formed oftwo sections, each of these sections being formed of a wooden block, thegrain of which runs longitudinally. The space between the confrontingfaces of the vertical flanges of angle irons 11 and 12 is greater thanthe width of the base of the rail A, and disposed at in tervals are therail fasteners 16 which have vertically extending shanks and which areformed with somewhat vertically elongated openings 17 through which thebolts 14 pass. The upper ends of these fasteners have heads 18 whichproject beyond the shank and are beveled upon their under faces so as toengage over the base of the rail A, as illustrated in Figure 4. Theopenings 17, as remarked, are somewhat elliptical vertica ly andtherefore the major axis of these openings has a length of about igreater than the minor axis of these openings so as to permit these railengaging members 16 to shift vertically about 4. Preferably tar oranequivalent material ismelted and poured into the space between thewooden blocks 15 and the inner faces of the vertical flanges of theangle irons 11 and 12, this tar seeping between the lower faces of thewooden blocks and the top surface ofplates 10 so that the wooden blocksare thoroughly embedded in the thin layer of tar which will act toprotect these blocks from the effects of moisture. The upper faces ofthe blocks 15 may also be covered with a coating 0f tar and resting uponthe upper faces ofthe blocks or upon this coating of tar isa railsupporting plate20 having a width equal to the distance between thevertical flanges of the angle irons .11:and 12 and-being cut out atintervals, as at 21,130 accommodate the fastening'devices 16 which1fitthese openings 21 snugly. While I do not wish'to be limited to this, Ipreferably form the upper surface of this plate 20 with transverselyextending corrugations, 15 illustrated in Figure 5, so that the uppersurface ofthe plate is formed with alternate raised and depressedportions or alternatepealis and valleys. Preferably, though I do .notwish to be limited to this, the valleys .22 will be about 5, deepandthere will be a distance of about 6 between crests. The object of soforming this plate 20 is to accommodate the wave given to the'rail bythe passage of a car wheel thereover.

It will be seen that by tightening upthe nuts on the ends of bolts 14that the fastening devices will clamp the base of the rail A firmly butthat these fasteningdevices will not prevent the depression of the railunder weight or the rise ofithe railnsithe weight is relieved, due tothe expansion of the wood. The twin rail supporting structures which Ihave just described are connected at intervals by means of cross .bars23 of angle iron or channel iron, .preferably channel iron, with theflanges extending downward so .that'they shall be embedded in theconcrete oftheroadway. and will act to pre vent longitudinal movement ofthe rail structure.

At:thejointsbetween thepl-ates 10, 1 provide relatively short,transversely extending I-beam sections 24, the plates 10 meeting at thecentral axis of the I-beam 24 but the flanges 11 and 12 meeting to oneside of the central axis, as at 25, so that the angle irons 11 and 12break joints with the joint of the plates 10. One of the plates 10 andits corresponding angle irons 11 and 12 are riveted at the factory toone flange of the I-beam section 24, and when the track structure isassembled the projecting end of the plate 10 of the next adjacentsection is inserted between the horizontal flanges of the angle irons 11and 12 and the projecting flange or head of the I-beam 24 and boltedthereto, as by "the bolt 26.

It will be seen that the sections of the track structure are preferablyassembled and riveted at the factory and that then these sections areassembled in the field by connecting them together by the bolts 26. Themetallic track supporting structure described is disposed upon aconcrete bed 27 and concrete 28 is filled in between the verticalflanges of the outerangle iron 12 and the end of the concrete base 27and betweenthe confronting vertical flanges of the angle irons 11, as at29. This concrete 29, as illus trated in Figure 8, has its uppersurfaceen tended downward to a space midway between the rails so as to form adrainage channel between therails, and embedded in the concrete 18 is adrain pipe 30 and there are drainage openings 31 formed in the concrete29 which extend to thisln'anch pipe, thus securing a thorough drainagefor the track structure, carrying off all water and thereby preventingthe deteriorating action of moisture upon the wooden blocks 15.

It is to 'be particularly noted that the wooden blocks 15 are entirelyhoused from moisture. They areprotected at the bottom by the plate 10and the layer of tar, they are protected at the sides by the verticalflanges and the angle irons 11 and 12 and by the layers of tar, and theyare protected at the top by the plate 20 and by a layer of tar which may.be disposed upon the top faces of the blocks immediately below thisplate v20. Thus only minimum moisture can eveiqget to the wooden blocks,and there-- fore these wooden blocks which are creosoted or impregnatedwith other preserving compositions will last for a relatively long time.Bythe track structure which I have described I secure a resilient oryielding foundation for the track which is built very largelyofstructural steel and in which only aminimum of wood is used butwherein the rail is supported along its entire length instead. of atintervals, as is the case where ties are used. The particular form ofthe upper surface of the plate 20 is of great moment, as this particular.form per its a wave caused by an advancing wheel totravellongitudinally along the rail. Obviously the luv distance between thecrests of the corrugations will depend upon the length of this wave, thecrests of the corrugations being disposed at the nodal points of thewave. As a train passes over the rails A, these rails will not onlyvibrate longitudinally but they will be depressed and thus the plate 20will be depressed against the wood blocks 15, which will yield to thispressure, and after the train has passed, the elasticity of the woodwill cause the plate 20 and the rails to move back to their initialpositions.

While I have referred to certain dimensions of the several parts, it isobvious that I do not wish to be limited to these nor to many of thedetails of construction, as these details might be modified in many wayswithout departing from the spirit of the in vention as defined in theappended claims.

I claim 1. A rail supporting structure of the character described formedto provide a channel extending longitudinally of and beneath the railfor the entire length of the rail, an elastic filler disposed in saidchannel, a plate disposed within the channel and upon which the railrests and extending the entire length of the channel and rail, saidplate having alternate crests and valleys upon its upper surface, saidcorrugations extending at right angles to the length of the rail and therail being depressible into the valleys under tractive effect, and meansfor holding the rail against said plate.

2. A rail supporting structure of the character described formed toprovide a channel extending longitudinally of and beneath the rail, anelastic filler disposed in said channel, a plate disposed within saidchannel and directly supporting the rail, and rail engaging meansdisposed within said channel, said means havingslight vertical movement.

3. A rail supporting structure formed to provide a channel extendinglongitudinally of the rail and having vertical side walls, a filler ofelastic material disposed within said channel and between said sidewalls, a rail supporting plate resting upon said filler, fasteningdevices adapted to engage over the base of a rail and extending downinto said filler and through the plate, and bolts passing through theside walls of the channel and through said fastening devices, theapertures in said fastening devices for said bolts being verticallyelongated.

4. A rail supporting structure of the character described formed toprovide a channel extending longitudinally of the rail to be supportedand beneath the same, said channel being closed at its bottom and sides,wooden blocks disposed in said channel, a rail supporting plate restingupon the wooden blocks, rail engaging devices extending downward throughsaid wooden blocks and through the plate, and transverse bolts passingthrough the sidewalls of the channel and through said fastening devicesand the wooden blocks, the fastening devices having vertically elongatedapertures for the passage of said bolts.

5. A rail supporting structure of the character described comprisingabase plate, angle irons attached to the base plate andhaving verticalflanges'defining a channel between said vertical flanges,a filler ofelastic material disposed in said channel, a plate resting upon saidfiller, bolts extending through the vertical flanges of the angle ironsat intervals, and rail engaging fastening devices through which saidbolts pass extending so through said plate and having slight verticalmovement with relation to the bolts.

6. A rail supporting structure comprising a base plate extendinglongitudinally of the rail to be supported, angle irons mounted upon-said base plate and having vertical flanges defining a longitudinallyextending channel wider than the base of a rail, wooden blocks disposedwithin said channel, tar coating the faces of the wooden blocks, ametallic plate resting upon the wooden blocks and adapted to support therail, rail engaging members adapted to engage the base of a rail andextending downward through said plate and into said blocks and havingvertically elongated apertures, and bolts passing through the verticalflanges of the angle irons, through said fastening devices, and thewooden blocks.

7. A track supporting structure of the 1 character described formed toprovide two parallel channels adapted to extend longitudinally of thetrack rails, wooden blocks mounted in each of said channels andextending longitudinally beneath the rails, 0 plates disposed in eachchannel and extending longitudinally of the rails, rail engaging deviceshaving shanks extending vertically downward through said plates and intothe blocks, transverse bolts connecting the verti- 110 cal walls of eachchannel and extending through the fastening devices, the fasteningdevices having slight vertical movement with relation to said bolts, andtransversely extending tie bars connecting said channels at 115intervals.

8. A rail supporting structure formed of longitudinally extendingsections, each section being formed of a longitudinally extending baseplate, angle irons attached to 120 said base plate and having verticallyextending flanges defining a channel between them, cushioning blocksdisposed in said channel,

a metal plate disposed in the channel, rail engaging members extendingdownward 12 through the plate and into said wooden blocks and havingvertically elongated apertures, bolts passing through the verticalflanges of the angle irons and extending through the apertures of therail engaging 130 atively.shallowcrests and relatively shallow valleys,the crests and valleys extending at right angles to the longitudinalaxis of the plate and the apiees of the crests being relatively acute,the rail normally resting upon said crests and the crests being spacedapart approxmately as far as the Width of the rail base to permit therail to be depressible into 20 the valleys under tractive effect.

In testimony Whereoi I afiix my signature.

WILLIAM P. DAY.

